Extracts from the Russian Constitution of April 23, 1906

[excerpted from Readings in Modern European History,
James Harvey Robinson and Charles Beard, eds., vol. 2 (Boston:Ginn and
Company, 1908), pp. 378-381]

ART. 4. The supreme autocratic power is vested in the Tsar of all the
Russias. It is God's command that his authority should be obeyed not only
through fear but for conscience' sake.

ART. 5. The person of the Tsar is sacred and inviolable.

ART. 7. The Tsar exercises the legislative power in conjunction with the
Council of the Empire and the imperial Duma.

ART. 8. The initiative in all branches of legislation belongs to the Tsar.
Solely on his initiative may the fundamental laws of the empire be subjected
to a revision in the Council of the Empire and the imperial Duma.

ART. 9. The Tsar approves the laws, and without his approval no law can
come into existence.

ART. 10. All governmental powers in their widest extent throughout the
whole Russian empire are vested in the Tsar....

ART. 17. The Tsar appoints and dismisses the president of the council,
the ministers themselves, and the heads of the chief departments of administration,
as well as all other officials where the law does not provide for another
method of appointment and dismissal.

ART. 25. The imperial throne of all the Russias is hereditary in the present
beneficent ruling imperial house.

ART. 59. The full title of His Imperial Majesty is as follows:

We, ------ by the grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all 0 the Russias,
of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Tsar of Kasan, Tsar of Astrakhan,
Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauric Khersones, Tsar of Grusia,
Lord of Pskov, and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia,
and Finland, Prince of Esthonia, Livonia, Courland and Semgallia, Samogitia,
Bielostok, Korelia, Tver, Jugor, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgaria, and other territories;
Lord and Grand Duke of Novgorod, Chernigov; Ruler of Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov,
Jaroslav, Bielozero, Udoria, Obdoria, Kondia, Vitebsk, Mstislav, and all
northern territories ; Ruler of Iveria, Kartalinia, and the Kabardinian
lands and Armenian territories - hereditary Ruler and Lord of the Tcherkess
and Mountain Princes and others; Lord of Turkestan, Heir to the throne
of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarsch, Oldenburg,
and so forth, and so forth, and so forth.

ART. 62. The established and ruling faith of the Russian Empire is the
Christian, Orthodox Catholic, Eastern faith.

ART. 63. The Tsar who sits upon the throne of all the Russias may confess
none but the orthodox faith.

ART. 64. The Tsar as Christian ruler is the supreme defender and upholder
of the doctrines of the ruling faith, the protector of the true belief,
and of every ordinance in the holy Church.

ART. 65. In the administration of the Church the autocratic power acts through
the Holy Directorial Synod, which it has created.

ART. 66. All those subjects of the Russian State who do not belong to the
ruling Church, natives as well as the inhabitants of annexed districts,
foreigners in the Russian service, or temporary sojourners in Russia, enjoy
the free exercise of their respective faiths and religious services according
to their particular usages.

ART. 67. Religious freedom is granted not only to Christians of foreign
faiths, but to Jews, Mohammedans, and heathen. May all the people residing
in Russia praise God Almighty in their various tongues according to the
law and faith of their forefathers, while they glorify the rule of the Russian
monarch and pray to the Creator of the Universe for an increase of the public
welfare and a strengthening of the power of the Tsar.

ART. 70. The defense of the throne and of the fatherland is the sacred duty
of every Russian subject. The male population,

without distinction of class, is subject to military service according to
the provisions of the law.

ART. 71. Russian subjects are in duty bound to pay the imposts and taxes
legally imposed, and to fulfill all additional obligations according to
the provisions of the law.

ART. 72. No one can be prosecuted for an offense except according to the
process established by law.